Classic Shell: Forum

Hello,

We have a mixed windows environment comprised of Windows 2008 R2, 2012 and 2012 R2 servers. The 2012 and 2012 R2 server all use Classic Shell which we love. I just recently deployed the MS Sysinternals BGInfo to all our servers, physical, ESX and some VMWare Workstation. Randomly we are getting black screens at logon for all accounts. Uninstalling ClassicShell fixes the issue. A reboot and reinstall of ClassicShell results in the same issue. About 3 of our 12 servers have experienced this. I wish I could reproduce it exactly or see if there was something common to the systems affected but thus far I cannot.

I don't know what this BGInfo is. Maybe it is interfering with the way Classic Shell hooks into the system.
Are you saying it happens occasionally? That is, sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, on the same machine.

Hello,

BGInfo is fairly common, here is a link to it and what it does:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sys ... 2147217396

It places an desktop background which displays selected information about systems you log into, so this is great for say system admins who have many windows systems they administrate but aren't always sure which system they are on.

Once a machine has this problem it is permanent until Classic Shell is removed. Once removed, you can log off, then back on and you can see your desktop. It affects all users on that machine. Uninstalling, rebooting, reinstalling ClassicShell causes the same issue at next logon. I have not removed BGInfo as we need that and it is a group policy. Hope that helps?

You could try these troubleshooting steps:

1) Run the installer and make sure the start menu works before restarting
2) Open regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IvoSoft\ClassicStartMenu\Settings. Create a new DWORD named "LogStartup" and set it to 1
3) Restart and see if you get the black screen
4) While the black screen is on, run the Classic Shell Utility (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5010) and select the first option to save a log file. Save it in a place you can remember, like the Desktop
5) Then run the utility again and uninstall. Do not check any of the options to remove the settings. The utility should save a file ClassicShellReport.txt in your Desktop
6) Restart again. Go to the folder %LOCALAPPDATA%\ClassicShell (for example C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Local\ClassicShell) and look for a file named StartMenuLog.txt

Attach the 3 logs files here - the system report from step 4, the uninstall report from step 5 and the startup log from step 6

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

How have you installed BGInfo? Doesn't seem to be doing anything on startup - when I tried it, the desktop only updated when I run it manually.